Look i'm pretty bad at like long winded paragraphs and stuff, so i'll just say it simply.
I believe there should be an added XP benefit for people who write longer posts consistently. They put more effort in crafting them, and they're generally well written, but due to the time taken in each one they fall behind those that don't write as much. I'm not disparaging short posters, I'm one of them, but I feel guilt seeing as how this other person I'm writing with has put in such effort (more than me, at least) and yet is receiving the same reward.
I'm not really sure how this might be achieved, perhaps through an added % bonus at the end of the thread similar to the completion bonus, but I do think there should be something. Zeni is not a comparable reward.
This isn't to say that I don't prefer the current system as opposed to the one on Turbo, gods know it takes a lot of pressure off my back and I enjoy it more, I just feel extra effort deserves extra rewards.
The idea behind your suggestion is completely founded if anything from what we've seen during our first two weeks of launch is any indicator. While I can't speak for the other staff, I can certainly say I wasn't expecting to see as nearly as many posts, threads, and completed threads as we have seen during our early launch. The current XP system, as we have all very clearly seen, has favored those who post quickly and complete threads quickly. I can certainly say that we do not expect all of our members to make fifteen, ten, or even five whole posts every single day to "keep up."
The suggestion to give those who prefer longer, yet slower writing styles is a very good suggestion that we definitely will take into account and try to brainstorm ideas for a solution for! However, the solution will likely take awhile for us to brainstorm. A flat "write X amount of words for a bonus of X" could easily be abused and be prone to padding, a la the old PLPW system on World of Dragon Ball. On the other side of the spectrum, some sort of case-by-case or application system could be suspect to bias more than anything else. Finding some solution that can't be easily 'gamed' and isn't entirely subjective or bias-heavy is very important when coming up with something that will throw a bone to those with the types of 'slow and steady' writing styles you described.
We do not want people to feel rushed to post or complete threads, nor do we want people to feel discouraged by their own writing style being "inferior" when it comes to gaining XP. This is absolutely something we will take into account and try to come up with a solution to to the best of our ability in the coming months. Again, this isn't an easy nut to crack, so a proper answer to this conundrum may take a good while.
We appreciate you taking the time to make this suggestion thread, and will be doing our best to discuss the problem and hopefully come up with a solution. Of course, if any other members have suggestions or thoughts relating to this as well, feel free to post here too!
top of my head, we already have a completion bonus we could also add a word count bonus, of course, it'd have to have some anti pad measures. I can agree with what being said here though. Obviously I been one of the people writing an insane amount and I understand where it not fair to some people who write longer but fewer posts while I usually turn out 250-300 word posts. The old system did have the benefit of making better writers shine but it also allowed people to write garbage In 1,000 words and gain more. So it checks and balances for sure. I do think these all need to be taken into consideration to find a good middle ground. Though i'd like to hear input myself from other making longer posts for their ideas for sure.
The suggestion to give those who prefer longer, yet slower writing styles is a very good suggestion that we definitely will take into account and try to brainstorm ideas for a solution for! However, the solution will likely take awhile for us to brainstorm. A flat "write X amount of words for a bonus of X" could easily be abused and be prone to padding, a la the old PLPW system on World of Dragon Ball. On the other side of the spectrum, some sort of case-by-case or application system could be suspect to bias more than anything else. Finding some solution that can't be easily 'gamed' and isn't entirely subjective or bias-heavy is very important when coming up with something that will throw a bone to those with the types of 'slow and steady' writing styles you described.
I don't have as much experience as most here, seeing as so many people seem to have carried over from the old site "Turbo" than I was wasn't a part of. I've also had 0 experience as being a member of staff (except for one time I tried running my site like this and failed miserably because I was 12 and dumb) but I'd like to add my own opinion to the conversation. There's a lot of talk about bias being involved when you introduce a more subjective system, which is definitely true, but I think it may not be the biggest problem to overcome.
When I did do this sort of thing, as apart of Resurrection, one thing I noticed is that the "cream rose to the top" or better put: the best writers made the best gains. I don't know if there was any backroom staff shenanigans going on behind the scenes or anything like that, but the people with the highest PLs, and the people who made the biggest gains (Boliko, Rensou, Virion, Zach, etc) were by far the best writers on the site, and they were the people I and everyone else wanted to write along with. I have memories of writing threads with them, waiting for the grades and seeing them make 4x as much PL as I did. Maybe there was some bias, but 95% of it was because I was crappy at writing and they were great at it, which makes them fully deserving of their reward. When I saw those rewards, It really inspired to read their work over and over, try and understand why they got what they got and in the end, I hope it made me a better writer.
I think that the biggest hurdle to overcome is probably grading times. Back then, grading was a slog. I never learnt the actually system behind it but it's significantly quicker in this new iteration for obvious reasons. Having people progress, and therefore able to continue develop their characters and stories with others, compared to in the past where things would just pile on I think is probably the biggest benefit to the new system and by itself may be worth any and all potential downside it carries with it.
Because of that the best system (just in my opinion) is probably a mixture of both. Like others have said, having anything based on words will only lead to padding; that system and all of its combination has been tried and has been moved on from for very good reasons. I think the current system of XP per post based on participants is a very good system (maybe the best possible, at least for a core) which shouldn't drastically change, but maybe something like a small bonus based on overall quality and effort of work put into the writing. Just for example, if you were to add something like a 5% bonus in a thread for someone who put a lot of effort into their writing.
Obviously, this opens the system up for bias, but I don't think that's a major boogeyman to be afraid of. I don't know many of the staff here but you all seem to be very reasonable, objective people. The site is very well done and there's a lot of experience from previous iterations. I think that with trust in the staff bias isn't the biggest issue at hand. The reason why I use 5% as an example is that it's enough to make a difference, but it's not so big that, even with bias at hand, it wouldn't "upset the balance."
With that being said, I think that having negatives effects for people who write consistently poor work is a good decision as well. I don't want to make anyone feel bad about their writing quality; I'm definitely not one to talk. As I previously mentioned I've been in the situation where everyone around me was making significantly more gains than I was even if I was padding my writing. But I never took it personally; I trusted that the staff were making the right decision and it encouraged me to really look at my writing and question how I could make it better. If anything I was better off for it. I don't know if anything of that went into your decision making but if it did I think its important that people actively try to write as good a story as possible for everyone's enjoyment.
I think that's ultimately the biggest problem a site like this, all sites like this past and future will have. Right now, I'm not sure the best writers are being rewarded like they should. I know that "best writers" is a term I've used a lot, and it is entirely subjective that will divide everyone, but with that being said I think that some people will stand out. For example, earlier Wryce/Tambo felt his characters were uninteresting and that they "don't have much going on for them." I don't want to take his words out of context or try to assume any opinions of his, but personally I felt like the posts of his I've read have been among the best on the site so far, but with a slower, more thoughtful writing style he's going to get left behind a bit.
Now I don't think that people who "do a lot" shouldn't be rewarded, because that's important to. It's important to be consistent with writing, to keep threads updated when its your turn to post (within reason) because with this site there's always someone waiting on you. It's a site about interconnective; telling stories with others. But I feel like if the best writers (again, subjective) feel pushed out of the site because they can't keep up with the people who are less enjoyable to write alongside then the site will turn into nothing but output without substance. While I want to praise the staff for creating a system that has reduced a lot of the padding I really hope we can create something which lasts because the foundation seems nearly perfect.
Apr 6, 2024 1:21:15 GMT -5
Lottus: Friendly reminder for new folks to check the rules regarding art claims - AI Art is not accepted on Sparking for character sheets.
Apr 17, 2024 14:43:28 GMT -5
Lottus: Hey folks, got a new phone, but verification is preventing me from downloading Discord for now
Apr 17, 2024 14:43:57 GMT -5
Lottus: I won't be available until I get home from work!
Apr 17, 2024 14:44:58 GMT -5
Lottus: Feel free to dm me if needed!
Apr 17, 2024 21:13:47 GMT -5
Dingo: I'll post what you've said here up in the discord so it doesn't get missed!
Apr 18, 2024 19:19:20 GMT -5
Yakito: I am the #1 Tenrec hater (Striker will be struck)